"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Monday, April 27, 2015

Politifact recognizes Castro regime's shady weapons smuggling

It is interesting than in debate over Senator Perdue's discussion of the Castro regime's shady dealings there is no mention of the discovery of the Cuban dictatorship smuggling of tons of weapons again from China through Colombia with final destination being Cuba earlier this year claiming that what was being shipped was grain.

Perdue mostly right on shady weapons deal

The White House announced last week that President Barack
Obama would be eliminating a major obstacle to the restoration of
diplomatic relations with Cuba by removing it from America’s list of
state sponsors of terrorism.

Since 1982, Cuba has been on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation it has shared with Syria, Sudan and
Iran and that triggers sanctions limiting U.S. aid, defense exports and
certain financial transactions.

Supporters say this is a necessary step if Obama is going to turn the
page on the Cold War-era dispute that has snarled diplomatic relations
between the U.S. and Cuba for more than five decades.
Some Republicans, including freshman U.S. Sen. David Perdue of
Georgia, object to taking Cuba off the list of state sponsors of
terrorism.

"The Castro regime, time and again, has violated international
norms,’ Perdue, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said
in a statement issued the day after the White House announcement.

"I am deeply concerned that President Obama continues to embolden our
enemies and empower dictators from Russia to Iran, and now Cuba. Cuba
must prove it is willing to change its destructive and oppressive
behavior before the United States removes it as a state sponsor of
terrorism.

PolitiFact Georgia decided to fact-check Perdue’s statement about the weapons shipment.
We reached out to Mark Bednar, a Perdue spokesman, who sent us
several news accounts of the incident where aging Cuban weapons were
found aboard a North Korean-flagged ship.

In July 2013, Fox News reported that Panamanian officials stopped the
ship Chong Chon Gang ferrying undeclared weapons and armaments,
including two Soviet-era MiG fighters and surface-to-air missile system,
from Cuba, in apparent violation of U.N. sanctions. The weapons were
hidden under 200,000 bags of sugar.

The report said the Cuban government acknowledged about a day later
that the cargo included 240 metric tons of "obsolete defensive weapons."
Government officials claimed the equipment was meant to be repaired in
North Korea and returned to Cuba.

Three members of the ship’s crew were arrested on arms trafficking
charges. The ship was allowed to return to Cuba in 2014 after a $700,000
fine was paid, the BBC reported.

A State Department spokesperson told us this week that the
administration considers the weapons shipment to North Korea in 2013 an
"egregious violation of U.N. sanctions."

The administration, the spokesperson said, has worked to ensure that those responsible "pay a price for their wrongdoing."

"The administration also worked to maximize the diplomatic cost to
Cuba for its role in the incident, including repeatedly condemning
Cuba’s role in the violation in meetings of the UN Security Council,"
she said. "While Cuba’s actions were a clear violation of international
law, they do not constitute support for acts of international terrorism
and do not constitute a bar to rescission of their (state sponsor of
terrorism) designation."

Cuban was placed on the list in 1982 because of its efforts to
promote revolution in the Western Hemisphere. North Korea spent 20 years
on the list but was removed in 2008 by President George W. Bush. North
Korea was placed on the list in 1988 for planting a bomb on a passenger
plane headed from Baghdad to Seoul. The plane exploded south of Burma,
and all on board were killed.

In the current review of Cuba’s standing, the administration focused
on ‘the narrow question of whether Cuba provided any support for
international terrorism during the previous six months and whether Cuba
has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international
terrorism in the future, consistent with the statutory standard for
rescission," the State Department spokeswoman said..

A senior administration official told reporters earlier this month
that Cuban leaders, including Fidel and Raul Castro, have repeatedly and
publicly decried terrorist acts.

Congress has 45 days from receiving the president’s report to pass a
joint resolution prohibiting the rescission. If that would occur, the
president would have veto power and Congress the power of the veto
override.

Our conclusion

Georgia Sen. David Perdue said he objects to plans to take Cuba off
the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that was announced last
week by the White House. He said that the Castro regime in Cuba has
violated international norms.

Among the specific examples he cited was Cuba "secretly shipping 240
metric tons of weapons to North Korea in 2013 in violation of a U.N.
embargo." News reports and statements from the administration back up
Perdue’s claim about the incident.

The administration said it narrowly focused on whether Cuban provided
any support for international terrorism in the prior six months and
whether the Cuban government had provided assurances that it will not
support acts of international terrorism in the future, That is context
the reader needs.